Start of Any Writing Project Can Be

¶ … start of any writing project can be intimidating, and pre-writing strategies are helpful in moving the writer into the project. People think differently, and may have different opinions about which pre-writing strategy works best. Brainstorming, which is effective for enough people that it is taught starting in elementary school, is one highly effective pre-writing strategy that anyone can employ instantly at the start of a project, or whenever they feel a need to generate fresh ideas. While other pre-writing strategies may be more effective for some people, when faced with the topic of renewable energy and a blank page to fill, I found that brainstorming was easiest and most effective pre-writing strategy for me.

I began the pre-writing process by engaging in free writing on the topic of renewable energy. I found that my free writing session generated more questions than answers, such as, "Is wave power a viable source of harvestable energy?" And "Is solar energy ineffective in Seattle? What about in Alaska in the winter?" These questions did seem to be useful lines of inquiry which might have helped me when researching renewable energy, but they didn't help me in narrowing my topic down to just two sources of renewable energy. Instead, I began to consider whether I should contrast wave energy and other water-generated energy, rather than solar and wind power as I'd originally intended. Free writing did help to open my mind up to fresh ideas, and I jotted down a number of questions about energy I didn't realize I even had. However, it didn't solidify my line of research. Instead, at the completion of my free writing, I felt like I had less information than I started with, and had probably wasted my time because I no longer felt like I even knew what my topic of inquiry would be should I move on to researching renewable energy sources.

After I completed my free writing, I took the time to read a bit about renewable energy and decided to stick with solar energy and wind power to complete the pre-writing exercises. I decided to try brainstorming on a fresh page. This time, I developed fewer questions. My brainstorming results were mostly short phrases or single words, such as "Birds -- squish?," "Windmills!" And "distribution of energy collection vs. centralized energy collection." The questions I noted in my brainstorming notes were mostly points that I could have used to in my essay contrasting the two sources of energy, such as the point about energy collection sources. Although my brainstorming benefitted from the research I had done before brainstorming, it didn't benefit as much from the free writing session. However, the results of the brainstorming were useful points which I could have used to organize an essay on the topic or to do more specific research. Because the results were practical and useful, I found the brainstorming session handy.

Finally, I decided to try clustering my thoughts. At first I tried clustering on the computer, but I didn't have the right software to make a good cluster, so I was forced to use paper instead. This seemed like an immediately downside to clustering, since I would have to scan the page and convert it to an image if I wanted to keep it with my other notes or save it when I was done with the essay. The act of drawing seemed to generate ideas differently than brainstorming, but the ideas I came up with weren't very different from my brainstorming results. The main difference was that they were connected together more clearly. Overall, I didn't find clustering as useful as brainstorming because the results were similar, just arranged differently. I also found that the bubbles in my cluster made me feel like I had to restrict the size of my items, which made them less clear. This strategy was the least effective because it did not help me organize my thoughts or make a plan as well as the other strategies.